Last Friday saw a brilliant conclusion to A Beautiful Machine, the celebration of all things bike, in the Bristol Shop. However the Bike art auction continues until Friday. And we have an exciting addition. Some of our friends at Charge, Hope Technology, Brooks of England, Rapha and The Ride Magazine have chipped in with some goodies to add to the auction. The lovely Charge Plug Freestyler is a demo model in tiptop condition and The Bristol Bike project have built a beautiful machine for the auction, otherwise all other stuff is brand spanking new.

The idea is to auction the goodies right here (much like the art auction). We will update the blog as the auction hots up.

All the money for this part of the auction will go to the brilliant Bristol Bike Project, which helps under privileged kids in Bristol build and own their own bikes.

What we need from you is just an amount (your bid). And the best way is to email your bid directly to the Bristol shop at bristolshop@howies.co.uk

Rob Lee is one of the UKs most successful endurance cyclists. He is about to take on the West Highland Way double (there and back) which is a non stop 190 mile ride which includes 28,000ft of climbs. Not for the faint hearted that. Follow Rob at http://twitter.com/RobLee7ds

Graeme Raeburn is the designer at Rapha, a super keen rider. With an understated approach: he says he does it just for fun, and yet finished 14th in the national 24hr time trial last year (clocking 416 miles).

The final speaker was James Bowthorpe. Last year James took on and beat the Round-the-World record for riding around the globe. His main reason for taking on the record was so that he could raise more for his charity (What’s Driving Parkinsons?). He has so far raised £135,000 for the charity. It’s wrong to talk too much about the statistics of these rides because all three talks last Friday were from top people driven by the love of simply getting on a bike. However, I know that you would like to know that James rode 174 days (including rest days) averaging 113 miles a day. He totalled 18,065 miles. JB did a little DJing to round off the evening playing the music he rode to on his epic journey. You can add to James’ fundrasing total here http://www.globecycle.org/

Sponsored by Bristol Beer Factory and Havana Rum – The night everyone has been waiting for. 5th in a series of 5. The closing night. Party time!

The theme is epic rides and so apt for this event as a whole. Its been a roller coaster ladies and gentlemen with its incredible highs and interesting lows. On the whole I hope we all feel better for it. I certainly do. Its intention was to instigate discussion and I can safely say it has done that. Bristol, the UK’s first ‘Cycling City’, is now connected. Thank you to everyone who has taken part; the speakers for their time and inspiration and the public for turning up and being part of it. Thank you too to the artists who have contributed their wares for auction – the show looks fantastic!

An Evening with A Beautiful Machine 05 is the end of my involvement but hopefully the beginnings of something bigger. Three incredible speakers. Lots of booze (obligatory). One very interesting DJ (he might not thank me for this) playing the tunes that kept him going around the globe! I hope the howies store is rammed! NOT TO BE MISSED!

All the artwork exhibited is for auction. The proceeds will go to Save the Children – Haiti Earthquake Appeal. Have a browse below and if you like anything call the Bristol shop on 0117 929 8928 and place your bid email them at bristolshop@howies.co.uk

There are a couple of artworks missing but we’ll sort this from tomorrow.

This auction will continue until Friday 16th April in order to gather as much money for the charity as possible. GET YOUR WALLETS OUT!!